1. Field of the Invention
Methods and apparatuses consistent with the present invention relate to reproducing and providing broadcast content, and more particularly, to reproducing broadcast content in a digital television (DTV) and providing broadcast content to a DTV.
2. Description of the Related Art
A DTV receiver receives a data stream in the form of packets from a broadcasting system that provides a broadcast service, and reproduces broadcast content by using the data stream. However, noise may be present in the data stream due to environmental conditions, such as communication conditions between the broadcasting system and the television receiver. Thus, a user located in a bad communication environment, such as a tunnel, receives a data stream containing much noise, and the quality of broadcast content reproduced deteriorates accordingly, in proportion to the amount of noise. In particular, when the television receiver receives a data stream containing much noise and reproduces broadcast content by using the data stream, reproduction of an image may be interrupted or an image or sound reproduced may be deformed.
FIG. 1A illustrates a related art data stream 110 transmitted from a broadcasting system. It is assumed that the data stream 110 consists of N packets. Initially, noise does not exist in the data stream 110.
FIG. 1B illustrates another related art data stream 120 transmitted to a user terminal. Noise is added to the data stream 120 while the data stream 120 is being received from a broadcasting system, and the noise may cause a fatal error to occur in some packets, e.g., packets 120-3 and 120-n, from among the packets of the data stream 120. In order to enable the user terminal to reproduce content, data must be extracted from the received packets. However, it may not be possible to extract data from the packets 120-3 and 120-n containing the fatal error, or data extracted therefrom may be deformed. This problem causes reproduction of the content to be interrupted or an image or sound reproduced by the user terminal to be degraded.
In the case of a related art user terminal, when an image is degraded or cannot be viewed due to an error in received packets, it is difficult to solve such a problem. In particular, even if a receiving environment is improved, a user cannot view again an image that has been deformed or interrupted before the improvement. Thus, a part of the image that cannot be viewed due to the error can never be viewed using the related art user terminal.
This problem becomes more serious in the case of a user terminal, such as a Digital Multimedia Broadcasting (DMB) receiver, which can receive a broadcast even while mobile. In the case of such a user terminal, a receiving environment frequently changes according to location, and thus broadcasting is often interrupted or an image reproduced is often deformed, thereby preventing a user from viewing the broadcast satisfactorily.